Friendship is Freedom
by luckyleafs
Summary: Tricked! The Freedom Fighters are taking down Scourge and Fiona, only to be duped, and led into another zone! Can friendship extend beyond the normal boundaries? What will become of the undefended Knothole? I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or My Little Pony. Rated K for mild cartoon violence and character relationships. DISCONTINUED, WRITING A REBOOT.
1. Chapter 1: Version Conversion

"You look a little fatter than usual, Blue." The leather-clad green hedgehog danced around in the air as he narrowly evaded his heroic blue counterpart's attack. "Looks like your chili dogs slowed you down." A red female fox clung tight to the green hedgehog's shoulder, sneering at the blue hedgehog. Princess Sally exchanged a knowing look with Sonic. Meanwhile, a young yellow fox with two (!) tails attempted to subdue the villains by whirling his namesakes around, as though he were a living helicopter. He could be considered as such – after all, spinning his twin namesakes with enough speed enabled him to fly.

The red fox neatly landed a kick to the younger fox with her black boot. Scourge zipped around the Great Forest and Knothole. The Freedom Fighters made this too easy.

"Tails! Are you all right?" Sally ran over to his side as Sonic gritted his teeth in search of his evil doppelganger. It wasn't long before he found his evil counterpart and former date.

"You're going to pay for hurting Tails, Scourge!" he growled as he curled up into a spinning, whirling blur of blue. The red fox jumped off of Scourge's shoulder, performing a roundhouse kick as she did. As she could see, she did so just in time, as Scourge curled himself up into a spinning disc of green.

"Nobody hurts Tails!" Sonic repeated as he landed a punch at his adversary's face.

"Too bad, I already have," Scourge smirked. "Give it up now and I'll go easy on you. Now why don-" Scourge stopped. His eyes widened as he was pulled from the air by a robotic hand. "Agh!" he moaned as he landed, the wind knocked out of him.

"Nice work, Bunnie," Sonic observed. "Where's Tails?" he added anxiously.

The cyborg pointed heavenwards. "He's up and goin', sugar-hog, why, ain't that him over there?" A shadowed figure slowly landed itself onto the ground.

"Sonic!" the two-tailed fox leveled, and he looked around. "Gee, you guys really covered a lot of ground!" He noticed Scourge lying on the ground, seemingly knocked out. "Let's get back to Sally and the others! Bunnie, can you carry Scourge? Fiona's fighting with Sally and Amy. It's pretty rough."

"Ah shoh can, Tails! Meet y'all soon!" Bunnie nodded and carried the subdued green hedgehog in her arms. His shades were crooked and his leather jacket open. Bunnie scowled slightly at the scars on his chest; they and the hedgehog's green fur were reminders of his new strength. Scourge was originally blue, just like Sonic. She activated the rockets on her legs and they were boosted away, into the depths of the Great Forest.

"Alright, let's get this party started!" Sonic rubbed his nose, for Scourge had managed a rather nasty punch there, and was lifted into the air by Tails. He could feel the wind in his quills as Tails flew over to Knothole.

It wasn't long before Tails and Bunnie met up in the sanctuary of Knothole. Fiona was bound tightly to the trunk of a tree with ropes. Obviously she wasn't very happy. Her gaze slowly rested on her date's face, waiting for the cue. Within a second Scourge blinked an eye to her.

"Oh mah stars, what is happenin'?" Bunnie gasped as she was kicked away by Scourge. The evil hedgehog zipped over to Fiona and cut the ropes with his signature Spin Dash. Sonic the Hedgehog charged at Scourge with his own razor-sharp Spin Dash, his quills and spines whirling so quickly that it looked like they weren't spinning at all. Unfortunately, he was too late.

"Ciao!" Scourge grinned wickedly as Fiona tossed a Warp Ring into the air. The Warp Ring expanded and the two hopped into the opening. They were gone. Luckily for the Freedom Fighters, it didn't close up immediately. Without a moment's hesitation Sonic nearly flew into the Warp Ring. With no other choice the other Freedom Fighters swiftly followed suit.

"Sonic, what were you thinking? They could have teleported anywhere!" Sally protested. Her question was soon answered as they landed in a heap on the green grass.

"Well, here's your answer, 'sweets,'" Fiona sneered. Tails started at her, albeit a bit hesitantly. Fiona was quick to take advantage of this. She coaxed, "You said it yourself, you know I'm good on the inside. It would mean SO much to me if you'd – AGH!"

Sally had used her signature flip-back-kick on the traitorous red fox. Fiona flew across and crashed into a tree. She'd had enough of Fiona's toying with her colleague.

"Oh, I am not having zee good day!" wailed a French coyote as he was knocked away by Scourge.

"Look out, Sonic!" Tails cried out as the green disc collided with blue.

Meanwhile, Fiona was pinned to a tree. Sally towered over her. "You've hurt Tails more than enough times. WHAT do you two want?" Sally snapped.

Fiona fought off Sally's grip. "Fine, you've won. Hon, let's leave." Scourge quit grappling with Sonic, his red shades askew, linked arms with Fiona, and sped away into a portal.

Antoine expressed worry. "I do not have ze good feeling about zem!" Sonic rolled his eyes in exasperation; Antoine was probably the biggest worrywart in Mobius! Still, he did raise a good point. Sally observed the battered villains, obviously suspicious. It was so unlike Fiona and Scourge to just give up.

"I agree with you, Antoine," Sally whispered. "We should follow them to make sure they get back to Moebius. Sonic, will you care to do the honors?"

"A hedgehog's work is never done, huh?" Sonic smirked and flew up to the Cosmic Interstate. "Hold onto your chili dogs! The hedgehog is outta here!"

"Looks like they fell for it," Scourge grinned evilly. Instead of heading for his home dimension, he instead shot toward another place.

"Huh?" Sonic screeched to a stop, turned, and then continued the chase. "Hang on tight!" he yelled as his friends struggled to hold on.

Just as the Freedom Fighters approached Fiona and Scourge, the two villains turned their heads and smirked, and then hopped into a portal. The heroes hesitated for a moment, looked at each other, then nodded. In a flash, they disappeared…

The lovely sound of birds chirping could be heard throughout the town of Ponyville. Ponies trotted from place to place – blue ponies; pink ponies; yellow ponies; there were even equestrians with horns and wings!

Sally shook her head. "Nngh…"

"Where are we?" Tails muttered. "Remember that time when Sonic got his other versions together to defeat Robo-Robotnik and Past Scourge? I don't remember a pony version of him…" he mused.

"Hi and bye again! Ciao!" Scourge and Fiona slipped into a dark and scary-looking forest. All sorts of unnatural sounds crept out of the thick patch of trees.

"Let's get 'em!" Tails revved up his twin namesakes and flew ahead, Sonic dashing by him. Suddenly a bolt of rainbow streaked into Tails. The cause of the streak was a cyan pegasus pony with a bright and bold mane streaked with the colors of the rainbow.

"Tails! Oh man," Sonic muttered.

"Don't go in there!" a yellow pegasus warned, her teal eyes widening; her soft rosy mane flowing behind her. She landed gently from the air.

"Whoa!" Sonic was still a bit startled. _ "A pony/pegasus nearly as fast as me… would this be this dimension's version of me?"_

"The trees are spooky and take care of themselves! Plus, you might step in some Poison Joke!" the rainbow-maned pegasus exclaimed. (Sonic and Tails raised their eyebrows at the mention of the prank-pulling plant.)

"The animals take care of themselves... oh." The other pegasus' teal eyes widened even more, and then they turned dreamy. "Oh, my gosh, you're animals! That can talk! And stand on two legs! Oh, this is just so amazing and awesome, I don't even know what to say…! I want to know all about you… What ARE you? And why does the fox have two tails?"

Amy ran up to the group. "What are you doing to my Sonic?" she screeched as she threateningly waved her red-and-yellow Piko Piko Hammer around.

"Amy, it's okay." Sonic looked nervously at the enraged Amy.

Bunnie put a reassuring hand on Amy, which calmed the excited pink hedgehog down. "We could ask the same thing, sugah-heart. Ah reckon Sally's computer, NICOLE, can explain, though." The half-rabbit, half-robot gestured at the princess.

The cyborg's explanation simply confused both pegasi even more. "What?" the blue pegasus inched closer to the half-roboticized rabbit. "Does this mean you're aliens? And what in the name of Celestia are computers?" Her rose eyes burned with curiosity and suspicion, while the yellow pegasus stared at Bunnie's cybernetics.

Sally stepped in. "In a way, yes," she said carefully. She then removed a small computer from her blue vest's pocket. "This is a computer, at least a small one," she explained. "NICOLE?"

"Explaining, Sally." The machine lit up a hologram. The pegasi stared with their mouths agape. It was lucky that there weren't too many ponies around the Everfree Forest; it would cause a great commotion. The hologram formed into an image of Mobius. "The Freedom Fighters live in a planet called Mobius. We call it Mobius Prime, as this is our home planet. However, Mobius Prime is only one of many other Mobiuses. By accessing the Cosmic Interstate, you can travel from one version of Mobius to another." NICOLE explained. "We were following two villains from a version of Mobius. One of them is Mobian" – the hologram turned into an image of Fiona Fox – "and the other one is a counterpart of Sonic the Hedgehog. He has dubbed himself Scourge after the effects of an overdose of Chaos Energy." Now the image of Fiona turned into a green hedgehog wearing a leather jacket and red sunglasses. The yellow pegasus looked a bit scared of the two villains' appearances.

The blue pegasus took a deep breath, trying to comprehend the computer's complicated language. And okay, she still didn't understand the concept of a computer much either. "English, please." Sonic nodded; he was still frustrated at NICOLE's choice of words, having trouble understanding them as well.

Sonic began to explain in "English," and then stopped. "By the way, we haven't gotten your names, Miss…?"

"Oh! How terribly rude of me, I'm so, so sorry!" the yellow pegasus gasped. "I'm Fluttershy," she whispered, her shyness starting to emerge again.

"Sorry?"

"I'm… Fluttershy…" Her cheeks went red.

"She's Fluttershy," the blue pegasus cut in. "And I'm Rainbow Dash ─ THE coolest and fastest pony in all of Equestria!" she bragged, showing off her rainbow lightning bolt symbol on her flank.

"Well, I'm Sonic, the fastest thing alive," the Blue Blur grinned. "This is Tails, my best bud and the one guy I'd rely on," Sonic pointed at the two-tailed fox, who smiled and waved.

"I'm Princess Sally Acorn," Sally said. The pegasi gasped and started to bow. "There's no royalty in the Great Forest, and I'm perfectly fine acting as a normal citizen as well," Sally added, blushing a little bit.

"Ah'm Bunnie Rabbot, and y'all must be wonderin' why Ah'm part robot," Bunnie chipped in. "It was this evil Overlander named Robotnik who made me part of who Ah am. He's been tryin' to turn our version of Mobius into a polluted metal wasteland and make all o' us Mobians metal!" she exclaimed. Fluttershy gasped in horror.

"Well I am Antoine, ze bravest of all! I have defeated Robotnik's forces many, many times," the coyote exaggerated, his chest puffed out. Sonic "hmphed" and tapped his foot, waiting for Antoine to finish his list of supposed victories.

"I'm Amy Rose," the pink hedgehog exclaimed. "I can't wait to have a look around this place! It looks beautiful!" Her eyes darted toward Sonic. "We could have our honeymoon here! Oh, I'm so excited!" she breathed. Sonic face palmed.

"We're the Freedom Fighters," Sally said. "We used to fight against Robotnik and his robots; tried to free the roboticized Mobians. But then an alternate version of Robotnik, Robo-Robotnik came and we've been fighting against him in the original Robotnik's place. Sonic calls him Eggman, and I guess Eggman's decided to turn it into a compliment, since he's named a lot of things after eggs and birds."

Rainbow Dash giggled. "Seriously? Eggman? That's just…" she burst into a fit of laughter. "I think we should talk about this with our friends," she said to the overwhelmed Fluttershy, who nodded.

Tails said, "I'll help you find your friends. What do they look like?"

Rainbow Dash rolled a list off her tongue. "Twilight Sparkle's light purple with a darker purple and pink-streaked mane. She's got a six-pointed star for her Cutie Mark. You'll probably find her in the Golden Oak Library, which looks like a big tree. Actually, it is. Anyway, Applejack has orange skin and white freckles. She kinda sounds like…" Rainbow paused, trying to remember the name. "Bunnie. She works at Sweet Apple Acres with her granny and siblings. I don't know how you'll find Pinkie Pie since she's been acting kinda weird recently, but she's a pink pony with an even pinker mane who loves parties. You'll recognize her pretty quickly. Oh, and if you do see her and manage to talk to her, don't worry if you notice she talks so much that she takes breaths after like, a whole paragraph. It's just a Pinkie thing. Rarity's a white pony with a pretty purple mane. She's really sensitive about her cleanliness and fashion, so be careful you don't mess with anything. Her Cutie Mark is three diamonds."

Tails nodded. "Let's split up," he said. "We can cover more ground quickly. I'll look for Twilight Sparkle, I guess."

"Gotcha. I'll look for Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy can look for Applejack," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Um, I don't know if I can – AHH!" Fluttershy found herself dragged into the journey.

Tails spun his two tails. "See you soon," he promised.

"We'll wait here!" Amy called.

About an hour later, the ponies and Mobians gathered in a large oak tree library. It was Twilight Sparkle's home ever since she had moved to Ponyville.

"Hi there," the alicorn awkwardly greeted the Freedom Fighters. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Um, what can we do for you?"

Rarity just about fainted at the sight of the Mobians. "Oh my stars, darlings! You look horrendous; don't worry, I can fix you up back at the Carousel Boutique!" She eyed Sonic's wild blue quills meaningfully.

"By the way, why are you the only pony with both a horn and wings?" Sally asked curiously, addressing Twilight Sparkle.

"I used to be a unicorn. I had a lot of magic potential, so I became Princess Celestia's personal student. Later on I was told I was ready and became a princess and an alicorn." Twilight explained.

"Explain it again, and in English," Rainbow Dash demanded to the Mobians.

After a long explanation, the ponies sighed. Obviously, they still hadn't quite comprehended the whole situation.

"So you're sayin' that this Eggman fella's out to roboticize everyone?" Applejack asked, tipping her Apple family hat.

"Yes and no," Tails explained again. "Robotnik wanted complete and total dominance of the planet through Roboticization. Dr. Eggman's out to conquer the world through any means. Actually, forget what I just said; that doesn't make sense either." He frowned.

Applejack scratched her head. "Ah don't think Ah get it, but alrighty," she said.

"So we need to catch a green hedgehog and red fox?" Twilight asked.

"Basically, yeah. I don't think it's going to be easy, though. I mean, since Scourge is another version of me, you'd have to be faster than sound to catch him. Fiona's skilled at hacking and making trouble," Sonic added. Amy growled at the mention of Fiona.

"Wait a second, you're faster than sound?" Rainbow Dash squeaked. Sonic nodded. "That is SO awesome!" She flipped in the air.

"I know," Amy said dreamily. "I remember the time he saved me from Mecha Sonic! And then he saved the world from Perfect Chaos as Super Sonic!"

"Super Sonic?" Pinkie Pie repeated. "Ooh, is he gold and spiky and floaty?" she asked excitedly.

An awkward silence passed over the room.

"Uh, yeah, I do turn gold and can fly when I turn into Super Sonic." Sonic scratched his head. "I only have two of the Chaos Emeralds with me right now though, so I can't transform. By the way, how did you know..?"

"I just had a feeling!" Pinkie smiled.

"Wait, what are the Chaos Emeralds? And why are they called so? We've had… some experiences with chaos here, and they aren't necessarily good ones," Twilight Sparkle chirped, thinking of Discord, the chaos-loving draconequus. While he had changed for the better thanks to Fluttershy, she still felt jittery some around the word "chaos."

"The Chaos Emeralds are seven different colored gems with immense power. If a user finds all seven Chaos Emeralds and uses them, they can become a stronger version of themselves. Usually their fur changes color and they have a gold aura. By the way, they can be neutralized by a bigger emerald called the Master Emerald. Knuckles, one of our friends and the current guardian of the Master Emeralds might be able to show you the emerald if you ever can come to our dimension." Tails took a deep breath, and then continued. "The Chaos Emeralds can also give you the ability to warp time and space. Sonic learned how to do that from Shadow, one of our friends. As for the reason why they're called Chaos Emeralds, it's a long story."

Twilight paused to let all of the information sink in. "Either way, I think Princess Celestia should be notified of this. Especially since there's a threat to Equestria now… SPIKE!" Twilight called. A light purple dragon with a lime underbelly and darker green spikes ran up to her.

"Whoa, who're they?" he asked looking around the room.

"Never mind that, I've got a letter I need to send to Princess Celestia," Twilight announced. Her horn was surrounded with a magenta aura as she used her magic to carry some parchment and a quill, which landed on Spike's hands.

"Dear Princess Celestia: a group of creatures from another world have come to Equestria in pursuit of two villains. They call themselves Freedom Fighters, and also mentioned that one of the villains is one too, the other being from yet another version of their world. The antagonists…" She stopped when she noticed Spike's confused expression.

"An-ta…" Spike tried, but the word was too hard for him to spell.

"…Villains have escaped into the Everfree Forest. The Freedom Fighters are with us this very instant. Your faithful student princess, Twilight Sparkle." The pony paused so that Spike could finish writing the letter. "All right, send it," she said confidently. The baby dragon lifted the rolled-up letter to his face and blew a puff of green flames. Not a trace of the letter remained.

Princess Celestia paced around the hall, her ethereal mane flowing in numerous colors. The hall was elegantly decorated. A regal purple rug trailed from the beginning of it to the end. Numerous stained glass windows gallantly displayed the heroic achievements of heroes. Celestia herself was depicted in a few of them, as were the Elements of Harmony and their spirits. Sunlight softly emanated from the stained glass windows.

The solar princess had read the letter, and felt it did not have enough sufficient information. She certainly would have to visit Ponyville and meet these so-called "Freedom Fighters."

The door creaked open. A dark blue alicorn with a star-specked, night-like and ethereal mane entered the hall. "What is going on, sister? Thou look most worried."

Princess Celestia closed her eyes. "I can feel something is going to happen. I do not know whether it will be good or bad," she confessed. "Do you feel strange as well?"

"Yes." The lunar princess looked worried. Her elder sister placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"I have the utmost faith in Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and perhaps these Freedom Fighters as well." The solar princess opened her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2: Shadowy Meetings

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna exited the elegant castle. All around them, ponies and stallions strode around, their snouts pointed upwards. Canterlot was indeed a very elite place. Even the flowers and wild animals seemed disdainful of anything they saw as out of the ordinary. Speaking of out of the ordinary, the princesses entered a carriage. Two white pegasus stallions clothed in golden armor, presumably Celestia's guards, whinnied and took flight, the carriage trailing behind them. The solar princess sent a rolled letter away to Ponyville.

Shadow's quills peeked out of the safety of a bush. The Ultimate Life Form had dark black and red-striped fur. Thanks to his rocket-boosted shoes, he could easily break the sound barrier – just like his rival, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Rouge the Bat, resident master jewel thief and GUN agent, was sitting on a tree branch. The bat was hidden in the tree's thick dome of leaves, but she could see fine. Below her were her teammates and friends, Shadow the Hedgehog, a pessimistic and dark hedgehog, and E-123 Omega, a vengeful robot who was the last of the E-Series, and resented his creator, . The three of them not only worked for the same organization, but were also on the hunt for Chaos Emerald as Team Dark. Rouge flicked an ear, and whispered in her transmitter, "You sure this is a good idea, guys? We're stuck in some random place where ponies are everywhere."

Shadow muttered, "Hmph. You're the one who suggested we follow them."

"My sensors have picked up high energy readings," Omega droned.

Rouge was about to respond, but she was interrupted by a loud shout. It came from a stallion, and from the sounds below, evidently someone had found Shadow. At least they hadn't seen Omega.

"W-who are you? What are you? Princess Celestia must know about this!" The stallion ran away.

Rouge rolled her eyes. Team Dark was definitely a dark and sometimes scary bunch, but the pony hadn't even known them for more than five seconds. Sheesh.

Twilight Sparkle read the letter. "My dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle, Luna and I will be coming to investigate the matter soon. Princess Celestia."

"That's great! Scourge and Fiona can't have gotten far, considering the Everfree Forest is so big and scary," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Ah don't know, sugah-heart. Scourge an' Fiona do worse things than whatever anything in that forest could do," Bunnie replied.

"Well, while we wait, I guess we can all take the Freedom Fighters on a tour. Tails, would you like to look for books with me?" Twilight suggested.

"Of course, Twilight! Though I doubt there are many books on dimension traveling…" Tails trailed off in thought.

There was a knock, knock at the door, and Sonic and Rainbow Dash both zoomed to open it. They were eager to see who was faster.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Rainbow Dash gasped before falling into a bow. The Freedom Fighters figured that they should too. Twilight Sparkle ran to the princesses before dropping into one as well.

"Rise, my little ponies. There is no need for such formalities right here, right now," Princess Celestia said. "As you can see, I have received your letter, Twilight Sparkle. Would you and your friends care to enlighten the situation?"

"Of course, Princess! I'm sure the Freedom Fighters can explain it better than me, though." Twilight Sparkle nodded towards the slightly awkward group.

Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fighters or the ponies, a trio consisting of a hedgehog, a bat, and a robot were listening in on the conversation. They stealthily hid in the trees, peeking through the windows. Actually, delete the stealthy part. They were actually pretty noisy, at least in Shadow's terms of noisy. The bat was in a trance, staring at the white pony's diamond-styled Cutie Mark. The robot felt it had to demolish every tree in sight, and the hedgehog slapped his partners with death glares.

"Don't you dare," the hedgehog hissed to the bat, who only smirked slyly.

"Do not forget mission objective. We are looking for the Chaos Emeralds," the robot intoned. He only received a "hmph" from the hedgehog, who realized a dark blue pony with a swirling night sky-like mane was staring directly at them, and with considerable authority.

"Come out," the night-like pony instructed, still staring at the window.

"What do you mean, Princess Luna, I – " Applejack stopped mid-sentence when she, too, spotted the trio of GUN agents. "Who the hay are they?" she exclaimed.

Sonic inwardly groaned. "Shadow, Rouge, and Omega. Team Dark. They're from my world. Your Highness, I've got this."

No less had the hero's words flown out of his mouth before his body, too, flew along with them. Sally cried, "Hold onto your seatbelts!" before she, too, was flapping in the momentary wind.

"My, your friend is fast, is he not?" Luna commented. "Perhaps even faster than Miss Rainbow Dash." She headed to the window.

"Shads, gig's up!" Sonic grinned, waving purposely to annoy Shadow.

"Hello, Faker. What are YOU doing here?" Shadow asked in a dangerously calm voice. All of the Freedom Fighters knew this voice all too well.

"There's only one thing we came here for," Shadow growled.

"Sonic, who are these ponies?" Celestia asked, her mane streaming and rippling.

"We're Team Dark, and unless someone wants to get in my way, you'd all better step out of the way and give us the Chaos Emeralds!" Rouge announced.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Hearing the commotion, the other Freedom Fighters and ponies got up and ran over to the source of it.

"I am Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog. Now give us the Chaos Emerald."

"You have a Chaos Emerald?"

"Sonic, what is a Chaos Emerald?"  
"Hand it over or immediate eradication."

"Sonic, what the hay's goin' on here?"

"Ooh, your name's Darky! … Uh, Metal? No, Team Spooky-Team Spooky!"

It was about time. Princess Sally and Princess Celestia finally stepped in. "Everypony, stop it right this instant!" Celestia thundered, Sally standing beside her. It didn't work; only the ponies listened. "Sister, we need something _attention-grabbing_," Celestia whispered to Luna.

"Are you sure?" the lunar princess whispered back. Celestia nodded.

"EVERYPONY, STOP IT, NOW!" Thunder rumbled outside. A small, but powerful-looking dark cloud swirled behind a black-coated mare with a striking blue mane. Even Shadow and Omega froze.

"Pony is similar to Metal Madness. Attack?" prompted Omega, who received no answer from the fixated Rouge and the unimpressed Shadow.

Sonic noticed Shadow's angered expression. "Uh-oh… Looks like I've gotta get to him before he Chaos Spears someone," he thought. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he smirked, "Hey Shadow! Bet you can't keep up with me in a race!"

That did it. Shadow, short fuse blown, remarked coldly, "No, you're not, and I can prove it." He smirked, and shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!"'

Time seemed to freeze as Shadow held up a glittering ball of green. He snatched the yellow Chaos Emerald out of Sonic's quills. Just in time, too – the effects of Chaos Control soon wore off.

"What the hay?" Applejack shook her head.

Sonic was officially ticked. "Okay, that does it!" Sonic growled as he performed his variation of Chaos Control. Unlike Shadow, who slowed time, he warped to Shadow and snatched his emerald back.

"It's the battle o' the hedgehogs! Sal, we'd bettah step in!" Bunnie exclaimed.

Rarity shuddered away as she dodged an inadvertent attack from Shadow. "Goodness, those two are quite the ruffians!" she exclaimed scornfully.

Amy strode up threateningly. She swung her Piko Piko Hammer dangerously. "That's it! Shadow, stop it this instant! Nobody hurts my Sonic! You stop too, Sonic!"

Seeing Amy made both hedgehogs relent. While normally a sweet and cheerful girl, the pink hedgehog in a temper was sometimes scarier than Shadow's good days and Knuckles in a rage put together.

"Fine, take your emerald." Shadow narrowed his eyes. "But we're following you." Rouge and Omega shared perplexed glances before shrugging. They sure didn't agree to or even discuss joining the Freedom Fighters and those colorful ponies.

Sally interrupted, "Why?" One eyebrow arched high in suspicion.

"We don't know how to get out of here," Rouge admitted. "Heck, we don't even know where we are." In truth, she had no clue why Shadow wanted to stay, and neither did Omega. What she had stated was for her own reasons.

"You're at the Golden Oak Library," Sally informed Team Dark. "We were going to explain what was happening to the princesses." She nodded towards Princess Celestia and Luna, who were now shifting uneasily from hoof to hoof.

"All right, deal. But no Chaos Spearing anyone, except Eggman, Snively, Scourge, Fiona, or any other jerk," Sonic decided, and shook Shadow's hand. He flicked an ear as he heard a mutter that could possibly translate to "what if I think you're a jerk."

Princess Celestia looked skywards. "It is time for my sister and I to lower the sun and raise the moon. We will be back shortly," she announced. Tails' eyes widened at this announcement. In pretty much every other dimension the Mobians had encountered, the sun and the moon rose and set by themselves. "Thou may spectate," Luna smiled uneasily as she walked out.

Curious, the Mobians followed after the princesses to watch the daily spectacle. The ponies trotted outside, wanting to see the beautiful sunset.

"Hoo-whee," Bunnie whistled. The other Mobians watched in silence, fixed on fascinating and beautiful sight. Ponies nearby stopped and gaped at the sky as it slowly dissolved from a soft baby hue to a tang of pink and orange, and then to a wonderful purple-blue. Stars slowly began to glitter, and a round ball of golden light bathed Equestria in delicate moonlight.

When the process ended, the ponies quickly bowed down before noticing the Mobians. "W-what are they?" Lyra shrieked.

"Oh, Lyra, it'll be fine! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna must be here to handle them!" a wintery-green pony assured her.

"Ponies, I assure you that Luna and I are handling the situation along with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. We believe it will be a very – delicate – procedure, so please settle down," Celestia pronounced. With this, ponies dispersed to continue with whatever they were doing.

Princess Luna eyed the foreign species with scrutiny. Her starry mane rippled in magnificent waves. Even with over a thousand years of knowledge at her disposal, she had, for a long time, never known that there was such a thing as alternate dimensions. Neither had Celestia, and she was even older than the lunar princess.

The Freedom Fighters and Team Dark introduced themselves.

"So what thou are saying is that thou are all from another universe, correct?" Luna asked for clarification.

"Right," Sally answered. "We have traveled to many different versions of Mobius through the Cosmic Interstate, including the one where Scourge originated from and took over."

The rest of the meeting went smoothly. Bunnie explained about her robotic parts to the princess ("Oh my!" Celestia gasped), Shadow bragged about himself being the Ultimate Life Form, and Rouge didn't try anything. Rather, the meeting went smoothly until Sonic, Tails, and Shadow began to talk about the Chaos Emeralds. This had the princess' attention, both of them remembering the chaos and discord that – well, Discord – had created over a thousand years ago.

"Thou said Chaos?" Luna queried.

"Yeah," Sonic replied. "Did it have anything to do with the chaos that Twilight mentioned?"

Celestia nodded. "Please continue. We have all the time we want," Celestia added, as if reading Tails' mind. "The Everfree Forest is a large and dense forest. These villains you speak of, Scourge and Fiona, cannot have gotten very far, even after all these hours."

"Well, alright," Tails picked up. "The Chaos Emeralds were named after Chaos, an ancient water god. Chaos used to be a normal Chao, but he touched the Master Emerald and became a protector of the Chao. He became friends with Tikal, one of Knuckles' ancestors, but her clan, the Knuckles Clan, were desperate and wanted the Master Emerald. Chaos used the negative powers of the Chaos Emeralds to transform into a huge monster. It… wasn't pretty.

"Later, Tikal sealed herself and Chaos in the Master Emerald. The remaining echidnas named the emeralds after Chaos. That's where the name comes from," Tails concluded.

"Well, that sounds very interesting. However, these emeralds can easily be used for evil, can they not?" Celestia queried.

"Uh, yeah, Eggman's used them to blow up – I don't think you'd want to hear," Sonic stammered.

"We need to know everything," Celestia said. "If the emeralds can be used for evil, we would like to know the threat they pose to Equestria, and your world too."

Sonic sighed. "Eggman used the Chaos Emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon, a cannon, when powered with all seven emeralds, could destroy Mobius. To demonstrate its power, Eggman blew up half of the moon, using only six."

"Blew up half of the-!?" Luna gasped, her face wretched in fury. The moon was where she was trapped for a thousand years, but even so, she was the princess of the moon, and loved it, and the night – why, she spent months making sure the night was beautiful.

Celestia's mane gently brushed Luna. "Don't worry, Luna, we will protect it and you, should help be needed," she whispered. The solar princess straightened. "Princess Sally, you and your friends may stay in Ponyville for as long as you need. Luna and I must return, but we will keep in touch," she winked, her pink eyes sparkling. "By the way, Tails, I must say that you remind me very much of Twilight Sparkle when she was a filly. I can expect to see great things from you."

The fox blushed. "T-thanks, Princess Celestia!"

They all said their goodbyes and 'nights. Sonic turned and looked at Shadow, who was silent.

"Wanna race?"

**Sorry, but I am not accepting any fan or original characters!**

**Were the characters in-character? I haven't read a lot of the American Sonic comics and none of the European or Japanese manga, so please tell me if the characters seem out of character!**

**EDIT 11/23/13 - Season four of MLP: FIM is coming out today! It is unlikely that the season's plot will be in this story - unless it will go along with this story's plot.**


	3. Chapter 3: Friends

The next day, both the Mobians and the ponies had figured that they might as well get to know each other. In fact, the only Mobians who weren't ecstatic about the idea were Shadow and Omega.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had gone shopping for food. Fluttershy, though not excited at the prospect of Shadow, Omega, and Rouge in her home with the animals, wasn't going to be rude. Never mind the fact that Team Dark seemed so scary!

"That was exciting, but Team Dark startled me," Fluttershy murmured, voicing her fears to her friend Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, Fluttershy! It was really really really exciting and fun and I was all yay! 'Cause we made new friends and we've just gotta throw a welcome party for them!" Pinkie Pie jabbered, her wild mane bouncing as she hopped around, squealing with excitement. A few passersby glanced at the overjoyed pink pony, though they dismissed this as another of the party pony's daily antics.

"I-I don't know, Pinkie." Fluttershy's eyes were slanted with worry. "The Freedom Fighters seem like nice ani – I mean, Mobians, to hang out with, but Team Dark look and sound so scary! I wonder what that move Shadow and Sonic did with the emerald is called…" the pegasus added.

The pink pony deflated slightly at her friend's comment. Thought after thought flitted through her brain. She could barely believe anyone could dislike parties! …And as far as parties went, Pinkie Pie was the best of the best!

"Well, don't you worry Fluttershy! Amy can help me get them to –" Pinkie drew in a breath "– PARTY!" With a giggle, Pinkie Pie slipped away to find party supplies, leaving an utmost worried and confused Fluttershy behind.

Rainbow Dash smirked, feeling a bit cocky. Her rainbow mane whipped in the wind like waves on a stormy sea.

"Hey Sonic, looks like we can finally see which of us is the fastest," she remarked, and hopped off a tree branch.

"Sure, let's do it to it, then!" Sonic grinned, never one to skip a beat. "Count of three – one, two, and –"

"Three!' Rainbow Dash interrupted, and she spread her wings.

The two took off at incredible speeds! Even so, it was still quite clear who was in the lead. Sonic, not missing a beat, jumped away from a tree stump and rolled away from a bunny.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was racing in the air, her wings flapping tirelessly as she took great leaps, fell, and strived again, or so to speak. Quite honestly, she was surprised that Sonic could beat her in a race. Sonic – what a fitting name, the pegasus laughed silently to herself. Indeed, that hedgehog was one heck of a runner – it seemed like he was just teleporting his way through, not running! Either way, she'd still try her very best. She willed her wings to take on more speed, and slowly, a white aura formed around her. Water droplets silkily slipped through the air.

Sonic, on the other hand, seemed to run at supersonic speeds without any effort. His feet thrummed the ground, his hands folded, and to top it off, the hedgehog was running backwards! A cocky smirk plastered on the blue hedgehog's face. He felt so free, so alive; so happy, not a care in the world.

"Watch out, Sonic!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she noticed the hedgehog was about to run into a chasm.

Sonic turned his head. "It's cool, Rainbow," he assured. Rainbow Dash had no clue what the hedgehog was up to, but she wasn't just going to let the guy fall, crazy or sane!

Wearing a smirk, the blue hedgehog's toes left the ground and the hedgehog was in the air. He curled up into a ball and spun his way to the other side. Rainbow Dash's eyes followed the route the Spinball took. Clearly, her Sonic Rainboom would be only all show, at least for the moment.

"Way past cool, huh?" Sonic smirked.

There was a slight pause before Rainbow Dash nodded, "Uh-huh." The pegasus' eyes were still stretched their fullest point, and her jaw dropped.

By now, it was midday. Rouge and Rarity had just gotten from the Carousel Boutique to the Golden Oak Library to find some "gems" about gems.

Rouge batted her eyelashes at the cased Elements of Harmony. They weren't nearly as perfect as the Chaos Emeralds – or the Master Emerald – were, but she wasn't going to complain. If these were the best jewels in this world, she may as well get used to it.

"Rouge!" Rarity exclaimed scornfully as the bat almost instinctively pressed her hand against the protective glass. "Pray tell what you are doing!"

"Mm? Oh, don't you worry your little pony mane, all the gems in the world are mine." Rouge's eyes were fixated on the gems. Never once, while she had stated the sentence, had her sight pried away on some other item. The crown and necklace jewels shimmered softly, calling to the bat.

"Rouge?"

"Mind if I take a peek?" Rouge slyly smirked. This was almost as much fun as messing with the Knucklehead.

"How unladylike of you!" Rarity gasped. She was thankful that Amy had taken the liberty to warn the ponies about the kleptomaniac.

"Well, darling, better keep an eye on your pretty little gems tonight, hmm?" The bat smirked, snapped open her wings, and glided outside through the door. Rarity stared furiously at the bat's silhouette.

Not long after that fiasco, Tails, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Sally had decided to settle in the library for information and entertainment. The girls and the fox watched Rouge fly off into the sky. A thunderous Rarity left the tree housing the library, giving an agitated "hmph" as she left.

"The nerve of that bat! What did she mean by "better keep an eye on your pretty little gems tonight, anyway?"Rarity muttered, more to herself than anyone else. She hadn't noticed her friends approaching the library.

"Rarity, are you alright?" Twilight Sparkle asked, concerned.

"Oh yes, of course! It's just that some bats had better keep an eye on what they say! Well, see you later!" With that, Rarity set off to find some good security ponies. She decided not to put it past a kleptomaniac bat to try to steal her fashion designs.

"Okay, now that was weird," Twilight muttered under her breath. What could cause the unicorn to run out of the library like that?

Tails noticed the alicorn's worried look for her friend. "It's probably just Rouge, Twilight. I'm sure Rarity can get over it, or get used to it," he added under his breath. It was rumored that the only reason Rouge hadn't been jailed back at Mobius was due to the fact that she worked as a G.U.N. spy for the government. This was, in fact, partly true.

"Meanwhile, I guess we can look for books. I'd like to read about this world." Sally smiled.

"Hey, Twilight," Tails piped up suddenly. "Is it okay if I try to make a Chaos Emerald tracker? I'm pretty sure Scourge has the yellow emerald."

"What?" Twilight looked slightly taken aback. "Well, of course. I'll try to see if there are any books about dimension traveling, or if there are any about power gems. Come on, let's go in."

Sally sat cross-legged, her eyes scanning a book. It was the book about the Elements of Harmony. In fact, it was the same one that Twilight Sparkle herself had read on that very fateful day. It was a few hours before the Summer Sun Celebration, the thousandth year of Nightmare Moon's imprisonment; the day the villainous mare would escape from her prison.

"The Elements of Harmony… they sound like Equestria's version of the Chaos Emeralds…" Sally muttered to herself. She unveiled NICOLE from her pocket and commenced a download of the texts.

Tails worked quietly on his Chaos Emerald detector (or, as he would unveil it, the Chaos Tracker), sweat dripping down his forehead in the form of tiny droplets. He was glad that he had brought his tools with him.

Twilight's horn lit up in a magenta aura as she lay down the reject books in a corner of the library. The pile was, in fact, almost at the verge of tipping.

Tails looked up from his machinery. "Twilight, I don't think there are any books on dimensional traveling. If there were, wouldn't it have been known?"

Twilight's head suddenly snapped upwards as a light flickered on in her mind. "You're right, Tails! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wouldn't want anypony to know that there could be dimensional breaches, so of course, there wouldn't be any books on the subject!" She continued excitedly, gasping for breath. "So that means we can probably find a book in the Royal Canterlot Library!"

"You could be right, Twilight," Sally agreed, but then reconsidered. "But surely Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would tell you about it if they knew?"

Suddenly, the entrance door flung open by a clearly agitated baby dragon. "HELP! That Amy girl's chasing me! You've gotta help me!" Spike begged.

Tails and Sally exchanged a glance. One second, Amy could be in lover-dove mode, doting on her self-declared boyfriend, and the next, she could be a furious inferno, wildly slamming that hammer around. They both had the same question in mind: What did Spike do to anger Amy?

They soon had their questions answered. Poor Spike barely got out of the way before a red-faced Amy was at the door, wielding her Piko-Piko hammer.

"Alright, where is he? Nobody makes fun of Sonic!" Amy growled.

"I didn't, I tell you!" Spike pleaded. "I was only having some fun!"

"By saying that Sonic needs to be 20 percent cooler?" By now, Amy was screaming. "NOBODY messes with MY Sonic!"

"Uh…" Spike was sweating now, desperately looking for a good excuse.

Tails mouthed, "I'll talk to her" to Spike. The baby dragon quickly juiced away into another room. Amy was inclined to follow Spike, but Tails blocked her way.

"Oh hey there, Amy! Want to go for a walk?" Tails exclaimed, secretly kicking the door shut.

"Oh, I DO want to go for a walk! With that dragon who needs to take a hike!" Amy steamed, her hands balled up into fists.

Twilight wondered if she should get involved.

Amy took a deep breath. One, two, three… Slowly the heat in her gaze dissipated. She didn't actually think that counting trick would work, but as long as it worked!

Amy's eyes narrowed. "All right, I'll let him off the hook just this once… Anyway, I'll be going to the Carousel Boutique and see if Rarity can help me with Sonic; see you!" She waved goodbye, and scurried away.

"Whew," Spike sighed. "That was WAY too scary. I mean, did you see her hammer?"

Tails and Sally tried not to smile.

Bunnie glanced around the fields. Everywhere she looked, apple trees dotted the grass, their succulent fruits radiating a sweet scent. The Apple family's farm, named Sweet Apple Acres, had a reputation for producing some of the finest apple products in Ponyville – namely, apple cider and zap apple jam.

"Howdy there, Bunnie, this here's Sweet Apple Acres! Ah have no doubt y'all will want to taste some o' our delicious apples!" Applejack grinned, her ears twitching softly in excitement. Business for the farm was always good news.

"Why else would I be here?" Bunnie smiled back. She swiped her tongue over her lips. "Mm, those apples shoa look good!"

"And they'll taste great when I'm done with 'em! Ah don't mean to brag, but Ah can bake anythin' from fritters to pie in the blink of an eye," Applejack boasted. "Now, let's go get some apples!" Winking, she reared up to a tree and bucked it.

Apples toppled down the tree, mainly red ones. They all landed neatly in a basket. Applejack promptly handed an apple to her rabbit friend. "Eat up!" she said, and took a bite out of her own fruit. "I'll give y'all the grand tour when y'all done!"

Within a few hours, it was dusk. The ponies and the Mobians had to admit that they were having so much fun; they didn't even realize it was night. They decided to meet back at the Golden Oak Library.

Shadow curled his lip. After all he'd been through (which included a VERY ecstatic Pinkie Pie and a VERY stubborn and angry Amy Rose bombarding him with scornful "get happy" quotes, along with various annoying surprises), the Ultimate Life Form was in no way excited for another "oh-so-happy reunion." It wasn't helping that Sonic had suddenly contracted extremities that forced the blue hedgehog to insistently annoy Shadow. The black hedgehog was easily irritated.

Shadow gritted his teeth. No longer accepting of Sonic's stupidity, he snapped, "Shut up."

"Oh c'mon, Shads, lighten up," his blue friend said cheerfully, apparently ignorant of Shadow. Privately he was thanking Rainbow Dash for this brilliant idea. Ticking his "dear black-furred friend" off was almost as fun as running and smashing a few 'bots.

Overhearing the two hedgehogs' quarrel, Sally rolled her eyes. "Some things never change," she murmured, basking in past memories. At one point, she was specifically thinking of the time she and Sonic had blasted to the past and met their younger selves. Both Sonics were equally obsessed with speed, coolness, and chili dogs. Those were good times. She didn't even realize, but a tear trickled down her cheek.

Applejack noticed this and bumped Sally gently with a hoof. "Y'all alright there, sugar-cube?" she asked, obviously concerned.

"Yes, just –" Sally began, but was interrupted by the loud sound of an angry robot.

"IMMEDIATE ERADICATION IF ALL ORGANICS DO NOT REMAIN QUIET," Omega boomed, raising a threatening arm.

After Omega's outburst, the whole room fell silent, except for the faint chattering of Antoine's teeth.

Then Pinkie Pie piped up, "What does eradicate mean?

"And why do you smell like cake? I like chocolate milk rain and cotton candy clouds! Chaos is good," she babbled on.

Once again, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Pinkie Pie's wide blue eyes blinked innocently. "What?" she asked, swiveling her head around the room while munching on a plain pink-frosted cupcake.

Omega's central processing unit began overloading with data; his gears turned as he tried to find at least the smallest hint of sensible thoughts in the pink pony's words – never mind the fact that it could materialize sweets out of the air like nothing and teleport. The E-Series robot shuddered. Illogical. The robot decided to dismiss the pink pony as a nutcase, even a threat to the well-being of all sensible creatures, before the threats of overheating and shutting down came true.

Soon more chatter filled the library.

"Be quiet!" Rainbow Dash yelled, muffling her ears with her hooves. This in turn did nothing to help the situation, only adding to the noise.

Fluttershy nervously approached Sonic and Shadow, both of whom were still bickering.

"You know what, Faker? I think it's time I seriously start reconsidering the deal," Shadow growled.

Sonic was about to retort with a hotheaded reply, but Fluttershy beat him to it.

"Um, e-excuse me, but, um, what was that thing you did with the emerald? J-just curious…" Fluttershy trailed off, half of her face hidden by her long pink mane.

"Oh, I can explain that! But I'm sure Shads can explain better cos' he's done it before me, right Shads?" Sonic grinned, poking Shadow with his elbow.

"STOP calling me that," the Ultimate Life Form breathed. Turning to the pony, he launched into an explanation, with Sonic making side comments every now and then.

Tails listened idly and began to resume work on his Chaos Tracker. He pulled out tools from his bushy white-tipped tails now and again. He was almost done, but he needed to test it to ensure that it was working properly.

What seemed like hours was really minutes. Sonic ended the explanation by remarking, "And thanks to Shadow, I used Chaos Control to save myself! Way past, huh?"

"Wow, that sounds fascinating," Fluttershy commented.

"I wish I could do that," agreed Rainbow Dash. "It's gotta be fun, kicking ro-butt all the time!"

Sonic privately thought otherwise, but kept his thoughts to himself. While some adventures were enjoyable, others were truly petrifying.

Tails finished the Chaos Tracker prototype. "Alright, it's done!" he smiled.

Twilight inspected the device. "Wow, that sure looks complicated. Here in Equestria, we don't have those kinds of things. We manage with magic."

"That's pretty cool in itself," Tails complimented happily. He could tell already that there would be plenty of lectures, and he had time.

"Well, girls, I think I'll be heading to the Carousel Boutique." Rarity rose. "I must get started with those designs…" she muttered as she opened the door with her magic. A cyan aura surrounded her horn, complimenting her beautiful indigo mane. Spike watched the unicorn leave with a longing stare.

"I'm hungry!" Pinkie Pie erupted suddenly.

The ponies laughed.

"Well then, let's whip up some delicious food!" Applejack spun her hat.

"I'll help!" Amy, Sally, Pinkie Pie, and Sonic offered.

"I didn't know you could cook, Faker," Shadow commented drily. "Except for those horrid chili dogs." He deepened his frown in distaste. "I don't know how you eat them."

"Shut up," Sonic said good-naturedly.

The night air was thick and perfumed with the scent of strange plant life. The Everfree Forest was full of peculiar plants and animals, very few of them known to be friendly.

A vaguely recognizable figure emerged from the forest. Another one followed the first one out. The first figure stretched. The moonlight highlighted its green and black features. Light bounced off its red glasses and sharp white teeth.

"Time for some fun," the first one smirked, an evil grin broadening. Its partner kicked aside some plants, sneering.

Boy, was Celestia wrong.

**Sorry it took so long to write this chapter; had a bit of W.B. :P Per reader request, there may be a chapter in Scourge and Fiona's POV!**


End file.
